To give more comfort to lending agencies for road projects, the government is considering a proposal to give ownership of highway projects to the National Highways Authority of India, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said. "We are trying to devise a framework for NHAI which will help raise funds more easily for projects," Nath told NewsWire18 on sidelines of a private event on Sunday. The existing concession agreement does not provide for any recourse to lending agencies, in case a builder defaults on loans Join discussion...

North Yorkshire and City of York councils have become the latest local authorities to admit that the economic downturn has contributed to a delay in the procurement of their PFI waste contract. The councils, which received £65 million in PFI funds to jointly procure waste treatment infrastructure more than two years ago (see letsrecycle.com story), had hoped to invite final tenders from the two remaining bidders for the 25-year deal in December 2008 Join discussion...

Marxist economics has a basic principle, that “prices are formed in the commodity markets”. Since Marxists don’t regard services as being of any real value, they don’t have a theory about where prices are ‘formed’ for services. Nor, it would seem, does the Road Transport and Highways Ministry. It has been tying up itself into all kinds of knots over toll rates. The latest confection has been served up at the Allahabad bypass on the National Highways network. Join discussion...

Ferrovial-owned toll road operator Cintra said its shareholders approved its merger with the parent company. Earlier last week, Ferrovial's shareholders approved the operation and, once all the legal requirements are fulfilled, the transaction is expected to be completed towards the beginning of December. Join discussion...

In its bid to boost the ship-breaking industry in Gujarat, the state government has initiated a concerted move to develop, maintain and operate the Alang Ship Breaking Yard near Bhavnagar on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Join discussion...

Hard economic times have prompted public schools to look for or accept private financial support. Education Week reported that private donations are covering $18,000 of the $225,000 annual salary paid to a school superintendent in Indiana. In Boston, public schools worked with corporations, along with pro and collegiate sports teams, to boost school athletic budgets by more than 60 percent over the next three years ($4 million to $6.5 million). Join discussion...

The PPP projects are supposed to cover 150 kilometres of national highways. These are to be managed in three packages: sections of the D1 highway make up the first and third packages; while construction of parts of the R1 dual carriageway in central Slovakia making up the second package. Join discussion...

The Prime Minister said that in Northern Bulgaria the government would focus on improving the Sofia-Veliko Tarnovo Road, and the Ruse-Shumen Road (the final part of the Hemus Highway between Varna and Shumen has been in operation for several years now). According to Borisov, the Sofia-Veliko Tarnovo part of the Hemus Highway may be given as a concession since the state has no way to finance the construction. Join discussion...

For years, Australia's biggest investment bank has been raising billions for airports, tunnels and toll roads throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Now the Sydney-based bank Macquarie Group Ltd. is seeking to help finance construction of a new Midtown Tunnel, upgrade the Downtown Tunnel between Norfolk and Portsmouth and extend the Martin Luther King Freeway. Join discussion...

According to the new regulations, the successful bidder of a project at a particular port would be barred from bidding for the subsequent project at the same port. “We are revising the guidelines to prevent domination of a single private operator at a port. No changes are being made in the model concession agreement (MCA). We will issue the revised guidelines as policy directives to the major port trusts in the country,” said a senior official in the ministry. Join discussion...